With the kind and generous
permission of Monthly Review, the following profile was excerpted by
Ann V. Awon Pantin, Esther Awon Thomasos and Juliet Awon Uibopuu from
Dr. Oliver Cromwell Cox's recently released book, “Race.”

Oliver Cromwell Cox was born on August 25th, 1901 in Port of Spain,
Trinidad into a middle class family. His devoted parents, William
Raphael Cox and Virginia Blake Cox, brought him up at their homes in
Port-of-Spain and in Tabaquite - the location of their cocoa estate.
William Cox insisted that all of his children go to the United States
to better themselves academically. His oldest son, Ethelbert
Fitzgerald did medicine. On the other hand, Reginald, who wanted to do
dentistry, surrendered his dream when the Whites-only dental school of
his choice did not accept him. The person most instrumental in the
formation of this outstanding sociology genius, Oliver Cromwell Cox,
was his mentor, tutor and uncle, Reginald V. Vidale, a school
principal who subsequently became inspector of schools; he later
became mayor of Port of Spain. Reginald Vidale was a disciplinarian, a
very dignified man and a bookworm. Others were famous black lawyers
such as Muzumbo Lazare, Maxwell Phillip, Edgar Maresse-Smith, H.H.
Hall, Thomas Meade Kelshall, Cyrus Prudhomme David and Sir Henry
Alcazar who impressed Oliver so much that he decided to study law in
1919 when he left Trinidad for Chicago. Having met the prerequisites
for entry, he attended and graduated from Northwestern University in
1928 where he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in law.

Initially, he had planned to return to Trinidad after graduation;
however, tragically, he succumbed to poliomyelitis which permanently
crippled both legs. Faced with this disability and realizing that he
could not function as an attorney, he felt compelled to find another
career. He entered the Department of Economics at the University of
Chicago. In June 1932, he graduated with a Master’s Degree. His
thesis was entitled “Working Men’s Compensation in the USA.”
Knowledge of the law enabled him to present many cases in which he
demonstrated to the government ways to improve compensation for all
workers. To this day, workers continue to benefit from the early
findings of these cases. The cause of the Great Depression of the
1930’s puzzled Oliver because the opinions of the Chicago economists
were unacceptable to his extremely curious mind. His quest for answers
led him to believe that studying Sociology would help. “I felt that
if the economists did not explain what I wanted to know; if economists
did not explain the coming of the Depression and did not help me to
understand the great economic change, then I felt I did not need
it.” Consequently, he attended the University of Chicago -
Department of Sociology, and graduated on August 22nd, 1938 with a
Ph.D. in Sociology. Not only did he find the answers that he sought
for the cause of the depression, but also discovered the correlation
between sociology and economics. These discoveries led to the
inclusion of economics in the teaching of sociology - thus changing
the course of sociology forever.

For Oliver, securing a position in the more resourceful white
universities was impossible, considering the racial situation at that
time. Oliver settled for Wiley College, a small Methodist school in
Marshall, Texas. While there, he held the positions of Professor of
Economics and Director of the Bureau of Social Research from 1938 to
1944. At Wiley, he began his critique of the Caste Interpretation of
Race Relations that was gaining popularity among American social
scientists. He published “Social Focus - The Modern Caste School of
Race Relations” in 1942. This established him as the first American
Sociologist to present an opposing view to the emerging notion of the
Black/White relations in the United States as constituting a caste
system. A more comprehensive critique of the caste theory and other
concepts can be found in “Caste, Class and Race” which was first
published by Doubleday & Company in 1942. For this book, which
sold out in six months, Cox received the George Washington Carver
Award from Doubleday & Company. Paradoxically, this very publisher
refused to continue printing it because of “controversy” and
“unprecedented interest.” In spite of these reasons and the
literary injustice, Monthly Review took on the role as publisher.

In 1944, he accepted a position at Tuskegee Institute as a substitute
for other faculty members who were involved in political activities.
As Charles Gomillion reports, “Cox was scholarly and it was felt
that he could bring some prestige to the school in research and
teaching. His publication record was impressive and he was thought
highly of by his peers.” In 1949, he applied for a position at
Lincoln University, Jefferson City, Missouri as an associate professor
and was hired. It is from there that he eventually retired without
fanfare. Being the private man that he was, this was his special
request. Later on, he was invited to Wayne State University as a
“Distinguished Visiting Professor of Sociology.” He gained the
reputation of being a very demanding professor who took his calling
seriously, and expected his students to do likewise. Known as the
professor who wrote books, he gave mostly C grades to his students. He
believed in upgrading their vocabulary, and insisted on the use of
appropriate language. He had great disdain for slouching and dozing in
class. His disability paled when he had the accelerator and the gas
pedals of his car installed in the steering wheel. He enjoyed driving
his own car. During one of his visits to Trinidad, we were at Staubles
Bay, when suddenly, he dove into the water and swam to the amazement
of everyone. Much of his social life came to a premature stop which
provided an abundance of free time for research and study at the many
libraries he frequented.

His strict approach followed through to the letters that his nieces
wrote to him – he would always return them corrected! The goals of
Oliver Cromwell Cox were to teach and to improve minds. He was a
philanthropist who was a kind and gentle man. His generosity to all
family members was one of the many hallmarks of his character. Out of
special love for his sister, Stella Awon, and her children, Joyce Awon
Langton, Juliet Awon Uibopuu, Ann V. Awon Pantin, Esther Awon Thomasos
and June Awon Bellamy, he was particularly generous by his constantly
showering them with gifts.

Today, the sociology of Oliver Cromwell Cox lives through his
intellectual legacy and his books.